Athar
by Self-Stirring-Cauldron
Summary: Sky's point of view on various bits and pieces in the Sweep sries. Better than it sounds. Please read?


Title: Athar 

Author: Queensrider

Rating: pg-13

Spoilers: Dark Magick, Awakening.

Summary: Sky's view on some key events in Hunter and Morgan's romance.

Disclaimer: Dunnunit. (That's what 'don't own it' sounds like if you say it really fast)

Athar (After she's done the táth meanma and scryed with Morgan) 

After I finished scrying with Morgan, I went home immediately. It disturbed me slightly what I'd see in her mind and what she'd seen in mine besides the obvious greater disturbance to do with Selene and Cal.

I needed to tell Hunter what we'd scryed and maybe I should question him about the memory of Morgan's that I'd seen, when he almost kissed her.

I hoped Morgan wouldn't tell anyone about what I felt for Raven. I hadn't even told Hunter yet.

I parked my car outside and hurried up the rickety wooden stairs to the front door. Hunter was there, making tea. When wasn't he making tea?

"Do you want a cup?" he asked, without even turning around. I shook my head impatiently. "No. Listen. I did a táth meanma with Morgan."

He actually turned around at this. "I thought you two hated each other."

"We did. I mean... we do... I mean… that's not important."

I put my hands on my hips and looked him straight in the eye. "You almost kissed her. Why?"

He looked first at me, dumbfounded and then he looked at the ground, murmuring something inaudible.

"What?"

"I don't know, damn it!" He threw his hands up in despair.

"I think you do. Don't lie to me, Gíomanach." I said, using his coven name.

"I swear, Athar. I have no idea! She drives me crazy and then one minute we're yelling at each other, but then I want so badly to kiss her, to hold her…" He trailed off.

"Do you love her?" I asked more gently.

He let out a bitter laugh. "How can I, when she's in love with my bastard half-brother?"

I looked squarely at him. "My question wasn't whether you _can_ love her or not. Do you love Morgan?"

"I think so," he mumbled softly.

Goddess this was hard. How was I supposed to tell him that the woman he loved might be at this very moment going to her death or worse at his half-brother's hands. But I had to. If we were to have any chance of saving her, I had to.

"Hunter" I said. "That's not all. While we were doing the táth meanma we scryed together. We saw a group of witches including Cal and Selene. I recognized a few. Edwitha of Cair Dal was there. So was Alicia Woodwind."

He sat up at these names. These were notorious dark witches. "What were they doing?" he asked.

"They were talking to Cal. Saying 'she must be brought in'. It has to be Morgan. Selene's after her power and Belwicket's tools. I saw her using them today. They're immensely powerful and so is she."

"Goddess." Hunter sat back. "Did they actually say her name? Did they actually say it was Morgan?"

"No" I admitted, chewing my lip, trying to think of something that would prove for sure it was Morgan they were after. I found it. "They did say she was from Belwicket! That's proof enough. Belwicket was wiped out. Morgan's the last living remnant of it."

Hunter made a noise of frustration. "They won't accept scrying as proof. Damn it! That would have been enough to put the braigh on the lot of them."

"Morgan was confused," I continued. "As you said, she's in love with your bastard half-brother. She was having a hard time believing that of him. What if she does something rash? What if she tells Cal? They'll bolt and they'll take Morgan with them."

Hunter considered. "I've got to find out where she is," he said. "I can't protect her from him if I'm not there." He grabbed his keys and the jacket that I knew the braigh was in the pocket of.

Suddenly both of us heard Morgan's voice in our heads. A witch message. It sounded weak though. _Hunter, please help, Hunter, Sky, anyone, can you hear me?_

Now I grabbed my keys too and we headed outside as fast as we could to our cars. "She's got to be at Selene and Cal's house." I panted.

We drove across town towards the big gray stone house as fast as we could. All the way, I was praying in my head. _Please, Goddess, help Morgan, help her get out of this alive…_

_**Athar** (The day after Hunter put the braigh on David Redstone)_

I woke up early that day. I normally do after Hunter puts the braigh on a witch. Normally though, I don't have to participate in stripping them. I turned over a couple of times and then gave up and got up.

Hunter was already awake. There were dark circles under his eyes and he looked like he hadn't gotten any sleep. He normally doesn't, unless it's been a particularly distressing arrest and he goes out and gets drunk. He can't when he has to strip them of their powers, though.

"Are you all right?" I asked softly. Stupid question. "No" he said. "But I'll live."

"I think you should talk to Morgan." I said. "You know how close she is to David and Alyce. Last night was pretty rough on her." He didn't say anything only nodded, staring into his cup of tea.

I went and sat next to him and gave him a hug. He seemed grateful for it. There was a time when he'd have cried in my arms but not any more.

I couldn't believe this was my boy cousin who played and shouted and laughed with me and Linden and Alwyn only a very short time ago.

His parents' leaving and Linden's death changed him. Years as a Seeker added to that hard shell. I'd have held him for a long time if I didn't have to get to work.

But I did. I had to gobble my breakfast and leave him there on his own, looking so forlorn. "I do think you should talk to Morgan though," I said, as I left.

He went to see Morgan that evening. I waited for him impatiently. When he came back, he seemed as if he was in a daze.

"Well?" I said.

"Well what?" he answered.

"Well what happened?"

He rubbed his chin and I knew he was thinking. He always rubs his chin when he's thinking. Thinking about what though? If he should tell me or not?

He finally spoke. "I asked her to be a witness for the stripping of David's powers"

"And…"

"She said yes"

"And…" I said, knowing there was more to this than he was telling me.

He mumbled something under his breath.

"Do I really have to tell you not to mumble at your age?" I asked, sarcastically.

Hunter took a deep breath. "I kissed her."

"You kissed Morgan?"

"Yes."

"So? Good, bad, brilliant, catastrophic?"

"Brilliant. Definitely. It was…" he sighed and ran his fingers through his light blond hair, searching for words. "Incredible" he finally settled for.

"What about Morgan?" I asked. "Did she mind? Did she kiss you back?"

"She kissed me back, so I'm thinking she doesn't mind." He looked down at the floor and suddenly his six-foot plus frame seemed very small and fragile. "I'm scared Athar" he said quietly. "I think I'm in love."

I suddenly felt very motherly towards my big, strapping Seeker cousin. I went and sat next to him and grasped his hand comfortingly. "Don't worry," I said. "I have a feeling Morgan loves you too. And I'm rarely wrong."

He grinned at me and I felt relieved that I at least made him smile. Normally I couldn't get him to smile for days after he captured a renegade witch. I supposed his kissing Morgan might have had something to do with it.

Ironic that something that was making him _more_ depressed, also had the power to cheer him up.

_**Athar **(After she comes back from England)_

I was sitting on the couch, reading, when Hunter and Uncle Daniel got back from talking to those two witches at the coffee shop.

Frankly, I was bored. My boss wasn't expecting me back at work till Monday and I wasn't the type of person to sit around doing nothing.

I was debating whether to drive over to Red Kill and go to Practical Magick when they walked in. They both looked rather tired despite the fact that it was only two o' clock.

Uncle Daniel had to leave almost immediately to go to a lecture in Taunton. I figured this would be a perfect time to pry into Hunter's love life, something, I must admit, I had missed doing in England.

When he flopped down on the couch next to me I opened with a line that had all the subtlety of a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.

"So" I said. "How's your love life?"

He cast a wary glance at me "Fine" he said, in a suspicious tone.

I raised my eyebrows at him. He rubbed his forehead. "Why do you always do this?" he asked.

"I'm your cousin," I said. "If I can't poke my nose in your affairs, who can? Uncle Daniel?"

He laughed shortly. "Goddess forbid"

"Why, Hunter!" I said in a mock-shocked voice. "Have you been doing something you wouldn't want your Da to find out?"

"You could say that" he said, in a smaller voice.

"What?" I asked, seriously, dropping all mockery.

He sighed and spoke hesitantly, as if it were hard to get the words out. "I… we… we were… I don't know where to start."

"At the beginning?" I suggested.

"Right" he said, and took a deep breath, preparing to blurt the whole story out, I cold tell.

"Well, Morgan and I were planning to make love just before I left for Canada but I backed out at the last minute."

"Why?" I asked, puzzled, I knew he and Morgan had wanted to make love for a good while.

He sounded frustrated when he spoke again. "I just… I was leaving in the morning you know? I didn't want to love her and leave her, I wanted to be there for her the next morning."

I nodded. I could understand that, but surely, Morgan could too? I would have thought her too mature to make a fuss over something like that.

I voiced my thoughts to Hunter. "But Morgan wouldn't make a fuss over that, did she?"

"No" he admitted. "She wasn't too pleased, I mean, but she accepted my decision. But then…"

"Then…?" I said, leadingly.

"I just, when I was in Canada, after I found Da, the council sent me after this witch, who was collecting peoples true names."

My eyebrows went up at that. True names had the power to control a person absolutely. Collecting them was never for good.

"Morgan, scryed me and she found me arguing with this witch, Justine Courceau was her name."

My eyebrows didn't come down. I wondered how Hunter felt about Morgan invading his privacy like that. I let him continue with his story, though. I'd ask him about that later.

"I kissed her." Hunter said. I nearly shot up in surprise. Hunter wasn't the kind of person who kissed girls for the fun of it. You had to have a lot to earn a kiss from Hunter.

"Why?" I asked, simply. He threw his hands up as he did when he was completely frustrated. "I have absolutely no idea!" he half-shouted. "I was arguing with her over her list of true names and the next thing I knew, she was kissing me!"

He started pacing the small living room and mumbling a mix of Irish, English and American curses, under his breath. I waited for him to finish his rant.

"Did you tell Morgan?" I asked. "Of course, I told her!"

"How did she take it?" He stopped pacing and looked rather small. "Honestly?" he said, quietly. "I don't know. She said she forgave me after a while, but she still seemed pretty hurt."

"Of course she was hurt." I said. "No offence Hunter, but you _are_ her boyfriend and going off to Canada, only to kiss another witch isn't the best way to build trust. You're not like Killian." He stopped and looked at me as I mentioned Morgan's half brother.

I had fairly recently broken up with my girlfriend, Raven, because Killian was canoodling with her. Then of course, being the incredibly wise witch that I am_, I_ had gotten drunk and ended up in his bed.

"Seriously" I continued. "The important thing though, is that she did forgive you and you've made up. You love each other Hunter."

He gave me his trademark, lopsided grin and came and gave me a hug. "Thanks, Sky," he said. "You're a great cousin."

"Stating the obvious," I remarked and we burst out laughing. "You are, though" he muttered in my ear, when we had quieted down. "You are too." I said. He is really. He's a great person and a powerful witch. I'm actually quite proud to have him as my cousin.


End file.
